Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 4.7% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares traded down 4.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $168.33 and last traded at $168.97. 6,003,321 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 19,474,070 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.33.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $169.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.87.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. M&G PLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,892 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.